Ayrshire man who lost wife in speeding accident praises EU law to reduce road deaths
New cars manufactured in the EU must come with a speed limiter.
An Ayrshire man who lost his wife in a speeding accident five and a half years ago is telling us he hopes a change to EU law will reduce the number of road deaths.
From today, all cars will have to come with a speed limiter automatically installed.
The device will vibrate or illuminate to let the driver know they are going too fast and in some cases it can even reduce the speed of the car.
Joan Price was killed by a driver going at 140mph on a stretch of the A77 in 2017 and campaigned with us to get speed cameras installed on the road.
He told West FM: "It will help the sensible driver who accidentally goes over the limit, but I suspect that there will still be some accidents.
"I think it is practically impossible to aim for zero fatalities on the roads although we must try to get the figure as close to that as possible."
READ MORE: JOAN'S LEGACY: Our campaign secures speed cameras after fatal A77 crash
Under the new EU General Safety Rule, manufacturers can choose how the system alerts drivers to the fact they are over the limit.
The options include acoustic and vibrating warnings, haptic feedback via the accelerator pedal, and actively slowing the car down.
Drivers will have to turn the setting off at the start of every journey.
Colin added: "It won't stop careless drivers from speeding, but anything that will help road safety has got to be advantageous.
"However, this is a big monumental change and it can't just be implemented overnight and I hope that one day drivers won't be able to override it."
"I still think about Joan every day"
Colin hopes efforts are stepped up across the country to stress the importance of safe driving to young people.
He said: "People always think it will happen to someone else and it is not until it happens to them that they realise how badly it can affect the whole family.
"I still think about Joan every day and it's not something I will ever get over.
"I would like to see more police officers visiting schools and hammering home the important to teenagers just how dangerous a car can be in the wrong hands.
"A car itself isn't dangerous, it is the person behind it who causes all the problems."